Marna McManus

The flies this summer seem to be biting more than the mosquitos. In fact, we've been hearing from our listeners about the nuisance the biting families of flies are causing in the area.

Many of these flies release a numbing anti-coagulant when they bite, which means they have already had a feast before you even notice the painful, burning sensation, which can sometimes leave quite a mark on people, pets, and livestock.

When one thinks of biting flies, the first thing that usually comes to mind is horse flies. However, there are a number of different families of blood-sucking flies, and, in fact, around one million species of 'obligate blood-feeders' can be found worldwide.

This is according to Dr. James Tansey, the Provincial Insect and Vertebrate Pest Management Specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. 

With the extreme heat, Saskatchewan was close to setting a new summer power consumption record last Monday afternoon.

The province was at 3,478 megawatts on July 28th, with the record being 3,551 set on August 31st, 2022.

SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry says there are a number of things they can do to make sure there's a reliable supply of electricity available for customers.

Some support is being offered by the Water Security Agency for farmers and ranchers experiencing drought conditions.

Rain in July was not a common occurrence, which has created a number of challenges for producers. Read the latest Weekly Crop Report for our region from the province here.

The Midale Oilman's Association are counting a success their 31st annual Golf Tournament, which was held at Mainprize Regional Park on Friday, July 21st. 

President Darren Moldenhauer said they had 100 golfers out for the sunny, windless day.

"Our winners of the low score of the round was Nolan Rohatyn & Anthony Melle, and they also won the horse race that we do after that low score event," he shared. 

The funds, he noted, are donated each year back into the local community. 

The Traffic Safety Spotlight for SGI and law enforcement saw 476 impaired driving offences in the month of May. 

The crown corporation highlighted the number of daytime impaired driving collisions last month and encouraged any day-drinkers (or mid-day tokers) to make sure they made time to #FindASafeRide. 

No matter what time it is, police are always on the lookout for impaired drivers, SGI stated in a recent press release.

The Traffic Safety Spotlight for SGI and law enforcement saw 476 impaired driving offences in the month of May. 

The crown corporation highlighted the number of daytime impaired driving collisions last month, and encouraged any day-drinkers (or mid-day tokers) to make sure they made time to #FindASafeRide. 

No matter what time it is, police are always on the lookout for impaired drivers, SGI stated in a recent press release.

While it's not always appealing to take a dip in water that has an abundance of algae blooms, the less discerning, more innocent beings in your life may not think twice about not only swimming in it, but also consuming it.

If there is algae in the water you consume, you could be made sick.

The Water Security Agency (WSA) recently released a public safety notice that rising temperatures can cause patches of harmful blue-green algae to appear in our province's lakes and reservoirs.

Over the past few days, some have been heard saying, 'it's chilly outside'. In fact, it even snowed in Banff on Tuesday.

However, according to Meteorologist Terri Lang with Environment Canada, it's fairly normal for this time of year.

While Mondays sometimes feel like the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, today, is in fact the day we see the most sunlight, and we call it the first day of summer.

Meteorologist with Environment Canada Terri Lang said that, more accurately, it's the first day of summer from an astronomical standpoint only.